


communicate

by literatiruinedme



Series: Post Graduation Day (5.03)- canon fix-it [2]
Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: 5.03 fix it, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-07
Updated: 2021-02-07
Packaged: 2021-03-13 07:13:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29274519
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/literatiruinedme/pseuds/literatiruinedme
Summary: Betty doesn't sleep.She makes snacks.And the other fix it fics for 5.03
Relationships: Betty Cooper/Jughead Jones
Series: Post Graduation Day (5.03)- canon fix-it [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2149917
Comments: 9
Kudos: 42





	communicate

**Author's Note:**

> in the same vein of [talk](https://archiveofourown.org/works/29213580); inspired by a gif I saw this morning of Betty and Jughead while they were laying apart, wide awake in 5.03, desperate to talk.
> 
> and the [mood board](https://imgur.com/8rbPOCp)

“Close your eyes,” Betty whispered around a mouthful of what smelled like macaroni and cheese.

He swallowed, finally forcing himself to shut his eyes after staring intermittently at the wall opposite his side since they had laid down together several hours ago, both of them stiff and back behind old walls. Lights flicked on and Jughead sighed at the almost warming feeling against his face. 

“Alright,” Betty sighed, setting something down beside him before wandering off once more. “You can open your eyes if you want, I just didn't want to blind you.”

He hummed, resuming his blank starring as he listened to her rummaging through her closet before-

“There we go.” After closing the closet door, she hummed to herself as she returned to the bed. “Sit up, Groucho, I know you're cold.”

Jughead smiled softly, letting some of the tension ease from his shoulders as he sat up. Alice’s affinity for the air conditioning was usually curbed by FP’s dislike of bills, but without him to comment, the house felt like an icebox and Jughead found himself clinging to Betty's orbit more tightly than usual, even with the strain on their relationship after she revealed her kiss with Archie several months prior. “Groucho Marx wasn't _actually_ grumpy.”

“I know, but we've been up for almost twenty-four hours since neither of us can sleep without sharing a pillow and I wanted to lighten the mood. I have cookies in the oven, but I know you like to snack while we talk and I wanted to talk.” Betty held out the baby pink hoodie that was a few sizes too big, just how they both liked, before turning towards her nightstand. “Pen?”

Jughead nodded, tugging on the sweater that smelled almost entirely of Betty; he pulled the hood up, evening out the drawstrings as she turned back to him.

She smiled, watching as he fidgeted before reaching out to strengthen his hair; the action felt like a shadow of when she would tuck his hair into his beanie and his blood suddenly ran cold. Slowly and then all at once, her smile fell. “Jug,” she whispered before tilting his chin up as she leaned down to kiss him.

While he had grown mostly indifferent to being swept up by her last-ditch efforts at saving things without speaking, the kiss felt different; less desperate and more resolute. 

“I have you,” she assured, brow pressed to his own.

And he believed her.

Without another word, she sat back, her hands on his knees for a few moments before she handed him the cannabis pen.

He brought the pink battery up to his lips as she did the same with a sleek looking slate JUUL, a single craft pearl pressed to the space where the signal light sat. He exhaled over her head. “Veronica's?” 

Betty shook her head after taking another drag from the unit.

Sometime around Jughead's first joint, Betty had used Veronica’s JUUL, a byproduct of her life before Riverdale, and subsequently fell into the trap of indulging her oral fixation. After Betty got attached, the trend had quickly spread around their high school; the few times Jughead had used a JUUL, he had walked away with painful headaches and nausea, deciding to instead stick to the rare hit of weed from a dab pen cartridge that Reggie had provided. 

“Toni's,” she corrected as she exhaled away from him.

He hummed, shifting to sit comfortably with the macaroni framed by his legs.

Betty smiled softly before laying her legs over his own. 

“I thought you were quitting,” he said, immediately cursing himself for not leading into the question. Suddenly he remembered the coldness that had come between them and he felt his throat tighten.

Betty's hand pressed firmly over his heart as she grabbed the shoulder closest, easily calming him. “I am,” she reassured before her hands relaxed, a half-hearted smile on her lips. “Toni found a really good flavour with no nicotine and gave a few pods to Kevin, Cheryl, Veronica, and me for finals and my speech and whatever, so we'd have something for the stress-induced study habit.”

Jughead hummed in acknowledgement, reaching up to hold her wrist.

“I'm using Toni's battery until I'm done with them and then I have to send her a picture of it in the trash can.”

He smiled before reaching out to hook a finger in the collar of her shirt, tugging her close for a chaste kiss. “We should eat.”

Betty nodded, sitting back before offering him a spoon. She let him take a bite before speaking. “Mom and I are leaving early.”

Jughead felt his heart sink. “Oh.”

“Yeah, I think she just wants to spiral about her and your dad's break up and doesn't want to do it in town.”

He nodded, not trusting himself to speak.

“And I'd feel weird talking about that when we're like...this.”

“It's not my fault,” Jughead mumbled before realizing what he had said. He blinked, looking up with wide eyes before he saw Betty shake her head. 

“We've both had our shining moments, but I deserve that; don't feel bad.”

Slowly, he nodded.

“Eat.”

Jughead obeyed after pulling his hoodie tighter around himself. He took another bite of the microwavable family-sized portion of Stauffer's macaroni and cheese, a common late-night snack they liked to share- especially when one of them didn't feel right, whether it was something to do with their relationship or outside of it.

Plus she always let him have as much as he wanted without judgement or arguments over where half was; Betty always shared what was on her plate, but there was something very intimate about sharing the small black tray of pasta.

“I love you.”

He looked up at her, finishing the mouthful of food before echoing her, though he wasn't as resolute in his statement.

“Do you want me to ship my sweaters to Iowa?”

Jughead felt his shoulders falling at her words- at the prospect of imaging how long they would last now.

“I don't want this to be it for us.”

“Me either,” Jughead admitted.

She sighed, taking a bite of macaroni- her first and probably her last with how quickly the gears in her head were turning. “What can I do to assure you that I'm turning over a new leaf?”

He couldn't help but smile at the phrasing of her question. 

Betty mirrored his smile. “I just mean-” She wet her lips before speaking again. “How can I assure you that I won't break my promise to be faithful to you?”

“I mean, Archie couldn't get into Yale if he tried, so that already has you out of the red.” He paused before smiling at the macaroni and then at her. “I just made an accounting joke and enjoyed it.”

Betty hummed, smiling brightly. 

“College, here I come.”

A laugh escaped her before she reached up to cup his cheek.

Jughead leaned into her touch, reaching up to cup her hand before gingerly kissing her palm. After resting his cheek against her palm, he hummed softly before speaking again. “Do you promise?”

Her brows furrowed slowly. “Promise...what?”

“You're the one making the promise here.”

Betty's features lightened before she grinned, the look simultaneously chilling and filled with excitement. “Are you asking me to make a vow to you?”

After a breath, Jughead hummed, nodding once. “I guess I am.”

With a small smile, Betty pulled away, reaching into her nightstand for two little velvet boxes. “My mom said that she hoped we could get some use out of these.”

Jughead opened one of the boxes, his lips parting at the sight of a Claddagh ring, the silver band, hands and crown contrasting the golden detailing of the heart in the middle. “Betty-”

“They're just expensive enough that we won't get green lines, but she wanted to get us a graduation gift.”

Jughead smiled up at her before pulling the ring out of its designated holding space in the small velvet box. The box closed with a sharp _click_ before he handed it to Betty.

She removed the ring from her box before setting both containers down on her nightstand. Betty hummed to herself, holding the ring pinched between her, thumb, index, and middle finger up to his own before nodding to herself.

“What?”

“The heart of my ring is golden for love. Your crown is golden for loyalty,” she said, showing him the ring she was holding. “If we're exchanging them, you can't have your own.”

“That's true,” Jughead said softly.

She hummed, looking down at the ring before meeting his gaze again. “I promise to be completely transparent with you until the day that I die. I will never omit the truth or hide things from you because you don't deserve that, but it's also unfair to you.” She swallowed before continuing. “I'll never stop cheering you on or helping you to get by...and I promise to call at least once a week while we're apart for school.”

He couldn't help but chuckle. “We don't have to do the full thing-”

Betty shook her head. “God, no, I'm just giving you the bare minimum right now. We don't even have to devote ourselves that deeply, I'm okay with just being boyfriend and girlfriend.” She smiled sadly, glancing at his lips before meeting his gaze again. “So long as you're the boyfriend and I'm the girlfriend.”

Jughead frowned. “That's a deal-breaker; I have to be the girlfriend, unfortunately, otherwise this all sounded great, but-”

After interrupting him with a kiss, she threw her arms around his shoulders as they giggled together. 

Jughead smiled, burying his face in her shoulder as his hand rubbed up and down her back. Silence stretched out for a moment before she pulled back. 

Before he could speak, she held up the ring once more. “Marry me?”

Jughead blinked, staring down at the thin silver as he struggled to make a single thought. He had been dreaming of hearing her ask him that question for over a decade, but he never imagined it would have happened, especially given the circumstances-

“We don't have to get married for a long time, or ever, but I want you to know that I- I'm committed. I'm here and I want to be with you and I will go to counselling or spend a year in a convent- You're laughing!”

“I'm imagining you going a year without sex and it's...really amusing.”

Betty rolled her eyes before holding the ring out to him. “Pledge your life to me, sir.”

Jughead chuckled, holding his hand out to her. “Fine.” He snatched his hand away after a moment before looking at her skeptically. “But only if you pledge yours as well.”

“Oh, I'd pledge my life to myself in a heartbeat.”

“ _Betty_.”

She grinned, leaning forward to peck his lips. “I'm yours and only yours, people may look and not touch, but _I_ will be sure to look and never touch.”

“You know how to sweep a guy off his feet, Betts.” He held his hand out to her once more. “I pledge my soul to the cult of Elizabeth Cooper.”

“Awe,” Betty cooed. “And I to that of Forsythe Pendleton Jones the third.”

Jughead smiled, taking her left hand in his before sliding the ring on her finger, heart facing out to signify that they were engaged. “I love you.”

Betty mimicked his actions, sliding the ring she held onto his left hand before leaning in to kiss his lips. “I love you.”

He hummed happily before letting his eyes fall shut. “I love you,” he breathed once more, kissing her before resting his forehead against hers. “I think Sweet Pea can officiate,” he said gently.

A soft and happy hum escaped her. “We should go see him.”

Jughead swallowed, suddenly nervous. “We're not rushing?”

Thankfully, Betty seemed to understand his anxiety. “We can be engaged for a while. I love you and I love being yours, but we don't have to do anything tonight.”

He nodded.

“Are you hungry?” Betty asked suddenly.

“Yeah,” he breathed, thankful for the reprieve.

“Okay, let's eat then. We can keep talking- we- we _should_ keep talking.”

Jughead nodded in agreement, reaching out for a spoonful of macaroni.

“Juggie?”

He glanced up at her, nervous until they locked eyes. “Yes?”

“I love you and I don't ever want to feel like this again.”

He nodded in agreement.

“I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

**Author's Note:**

> [And the other fix it fics for 5.03](https://archiveofourown.org/series/2149917)
> 
> Come say hi to me on [tumblr](http://literatiruinedme.tumblr.com/)!


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